On the Mercy of Enemies
by attackfishscales
Summary: When Aang, Sokka, and Toph find Hama's victims, they find Zuko among them.


**Author's Note:** Written for Jaggedcliffs on Tumblr as a reward for donating thirty dollars to RAICES, a charity that aids immigrants and refugees coming to the US and are fighting Trump's crimes against humanity. They wanted Zuko wump. More information for this universe can be found on my Tumblr (attackfish) at the tag: "#Hama kidnaps Zuko AU".

**Warnings:** Murder, attempted murder, torture, starvation

* * *

On the Mercy of Enemies

It was never a good thing when the light came in. It didn't matter. Deep underground, the sun didn't reach. The light meant Hama, but he couldn't... He couldn't stop himself. Every time, he watched the flickers on the wall, desperate and hopeful, turning toward it like a flower ro the sun.

When Hama left, she took the light with her, and the tears ran down his face with nothing he could do to stop them. When the light was gone, everything was too much effort, even talking to the other prisoners, hanging there with him like ripe fruit.

Sometimes the light meant finding that one of the people hanging with him was dead. It meant Hama's small terrible smile when she saw the body. It meant her fake sympathy as she remarked on how it was so sad this prisoner had failed. Failed at what, she didn't say. Fsiled at surviving, failed at escape, failed at performing a miracle, it didn't matter. Thry were dead, and failure was inevitable. Hama wanted them to fail, and she would make sure she got what she wanted.

Light meant Hama holding a cup of water to his mouth, and tasting the cool sweetness of it. It meant swallowing and feeling the water flowing deep down into the core of him. It meant her hand on his cheek, soft and mock-comforting, her thumb stroking his skin gently.

She always made sure they had enough water to cry. She always made sure they had enough water to sweat with fear. The stench of it almost covered up the stench of the dying, and the stench of excrament covering the floor, their clothes, and their bodies.

"You're lucky," she told them. "When I was a prisoner, nobody ever touched me. They gave us water on the end of a stick. The cups would hit our mouths. Like this." And that was the only warning she would give them before she would slam the cup into the mouth of the unlucky prisoner. Fresh blood would mingle with the other smells

When the light went away, it meant quiet. It meant being left alone, even if the other prisoners were there. It meant nothing, not even Hama, there to distract him from the ever present hunger gnawing at him, and the knowledge that it would gnaw away at him until it killed him. Darkness meant the disappearance of the dead, and the horrible certainty that Hama was creeping around them in the dark without them knowing. She could be there. She could always be there.

When she first captured him, he had asked if she meant to hold him for ransom. As humiliating as the thought was of being sold back to his father, as much as the idea might have filled him with dread at first, it soon became his favorite dream. But she had only laughed at him When he said he was the Fire Prince, she told him it didn't matter.

It didn't matter. He was going to die.

o0O0o

It was never a good thing when the light came in. It didn't matter. It didn't stop him from staring at the dancing light thrown by the torch making its way closer to his prison. It was fire, it was life, and he had been left in the dark too long.

But the light meant Hama. Sometimes it meant water, but it also meant what passed for fun in their captor's eyes. Light meant fear. It meant pain. It meant games that were almost worse than either.

But it meant water, and water was the only thing they got. Water just prolonged their misery. It kept them alive until hunger could kill them instead. Water was a curse diguised as a kindness.

The cavern went silent with the first flickers, as they held their breaths.

It wasn't Hama who walked into the cavern, torch held high. A gasp rang out from nearly every throat. "We're saved!"

But Zuko recognized their rescuers. They were saved, but he wasn't.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter. It wasn't Hama.

The first set of shackles clattered to the ground as the other prisoners babbled out explanations. Zuko kept quiet. Maybe of they were distracted, they wouldn't notice it was him.

The little earthbender girl came close, her makeshift key in hand. "Not that one, Toph."

She cocked her head. "Oh hey! You're that prince guy."

Well, there went that hope. He stared at the torches. He wanted it to be stubborn and defiant, but in the end, he just drank in the light of the fire. It was there, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from it.

"I'm not leaving him here," Toph told the Water Tribe boy. Zuko wracked his mind for the name.

"No," the Avatar agreed. "We can't leave him here."

She stomped her foot, and Zuko's chain fell from the ceiling. His body hit the stone floor with a thud. Hi knees throbbed with the impact. The blow forced the air out of his lungs in a wheeze.

"Ugh fine, the Water Tribe boy, Sokka, he remembered distantly, said. "Just keep ahold of that chain. We don't want him getting any funny ideas about escaping and trying to capture Aang again."

"Wait, he's the prince?" Tenchi, one of the other prisoners, asked. "Zuko is Prince Zuko?"

"Yeah," Sokka said. "You didn't know?"

Yuki rubbed her wrists. "Wait, who are you?"

"Okay!" Sokka shouted. "Time to get out of here before Hama gets back, come on guys, let's go, let's go, let's go."

"Wait," the Avatar whispered, voice echoing in the cavern. "Katara's with Hama."

Toph looped Zuko's chain around her wrist. "I'll get these people out of here, you go."

o0O0o

The ocean water was almost too cold against his legs. That was strange. The water in the Fire Islands had never felt too cold to him before. He grabbed handfuls of sand and scrubbed at his legs and body, scrubbing himself clean of the filth Hama had forced him to wallow in. The sand and the salt stung his flesh, but he didn't care. He didn't care that the water dragged against the chain, pulling it into his ankles with bruising force, or that he had to use both ha ds together because of the chains around his wrist. This was good enough.

o0O0o

When he was done, Toph bent a sand staircase up to Appa's saddle, and once he was safe inside, she threaded the chain through one of the loops on the bison's saddle and hooked it to itself. Zuko tugged on it halfheartedly, but it didn't budge. After hobbling through the cavern on numb feet, his knees giving out every other step, he didn't know what he would do if the chain gave way anyway. He couldn't help be jealous of Tenchi, Yuki, and the other prisoners, who got to leave, stumbling through the forest back to the village.

It wasn't hard to play weak. His legs didn't want to move. His feet felt like they were twice the size they were supposed to be and full of stabbing needles, ripping through them every time they hit the ground. All he had to do was give in to the pain before he had to. It was easy. It was easier than showing his strength.

He hoped they told the townsfolk about him, and that somebody came to find him before the Avatar and his friends flew away with him again. But somehow he didn't think he would get that lucky. He never did.

His head pounded, and the world swam, so he closed his eyes. It was so easy to be weak.

Toph nudged him with her foot and shoved a bowl full of water in his face. "Drink. I bet you need it."

Zuko flinched. He knew he did. It just felt like too much effort. He sipped slowly, letting the water sink into him, like rain into the soil.

She didn't slam it into his mouth. She didn't try to break his teeth or crush his lips. She just held it. "We've also got lychees and mangos if you want any."

"She gave us water sometimes," he said, barely hearing her. "But she never fed us. She left a stack of mangos once in the middle of the cave, and told us they were for us, but none of us could reach them."

"Man that bites." She patted his arm awkwardly. "I don't do that, I promise. I've got actual food, and you can have some if you want it."

"Mango," he whisperd, hoping his voice was loud enough to hear. In the cavern, every sound had seemed deafening, but outside, everythibg sounded small. "But I can't cut it up."

"Don't worry, I got you." She did. She did have him. "I'll do it, just sit back."

She held a piece of mango to his mouth, and he took it, the sweet-sourness of it almost unreal after so long without.

o0O0o

"You should have just given him to the town guards," Katara insisted. "They would've taken him back to his father, and we wouldn't have to deal with him."

That sounded wonderful to Zuko. Maybe she would convince the others to take him to the village guards themselves.

"Yeah, but then who'd teach Aang firebending?" Toph shot back.

"He's not going to teach Aang anything, Toph, you have him chained up!"

"Do you think I should take the chains off?" Toph asked brightly.

"No!"

"Make up your mind, Katara, sheesh."

Katara glared. She turned to Zuko. "You're really lucky. You were really close to starving to death."

"I know."

"Yeah, well, you're even luckier, because I know what to do. We had to rescue stranded people at the South Pole."

"Don't I just eat?" he asked, tired.

"No." She handed him a bowl. "I made you fish broth. Once we get flying, you can drink that. Just sips though. We'll see after a few days. You kept down the mango Toph gave you, so that's a good sign."

Zuko nodded. It made him feel dizzy, and his head felt too heavy on his neck, like it might snap off.

"You could have died," Katara said again, reprovingly, like it was his fault.

"I'm pretty sure that was the idea," he whispered.

"You think she was starving people to death?" she sounded troubled, like it hadn't occured to her before.

"what do you think?" he asked. "She didn't feed us. Some of the others died before you got there, and I don't think we were the first." He closed his eyes. He hated it. He hated closing his eyes and letting the darkness close in, but they were too heavy to keep open for long. "I think she was doing it for years."

"What do you think she was doing with the bodies?" Toph asked. "Did she tell you?"

"Toph!" Katara yelled.

"What? It's a real question!"

A bag landed in the middle of the saddle. "That's the last of it," Sokka called out. "Let's get out of here."

"Man, I hate flying at night," the Avatar said, clambering up onto the bison's head.

"Yeah, but do you want to say here?" Sokka fired back.

"No," the Avatar laughed nervously.

"Yeah, this place is creepy," Toph said.

"Appa, yip yip!"

They surged into the air. Zuko clenched his teeth and swallowed to keep from throwing up.

As soon as they leveled off, Katara passed him the pot of broth. "Drink up. The sooner you get better, the sooner I can stop worrying about you."

"Thanks."

"I still don't trust you," she told him. "At all."

"Why would you?"

"That's right, why would I?" She folded her arms. "What have you ever done to us except chase us around and betray us and help your sister conquer Ba Sing Se?"

"I never joined you," he mumbled. "So I can't have betrayed you. That's not how it works."

She narrowed her eyes. "You betrayed your uncle though."

Zuko sipped his broth in lieu of answering. Justifications tumbled over themselves in his mind, but none sprang to his lips.

o0O0o

They landed on a small, lush island. As the others set up camp, Zuko filched a map out of Sokka's pack, and tried to figure out where he was. They had flown from the northeast, and he didn't think they had left the big island. There was a southerly point, and he could see the edge of either an island, or the other side of the great bay. If he was right about where they were, there was a village only a little way west of them up the coast. It wasn't big but it should have a guard post.

When Sokka started heading his way, he shoved the map back in Sokka's bag and took a swig of his soup.

"You know," Sokka said, popping his head over the side of the saddle to grab his bag. "You should say thank you to my sister. "I wanted us to fly right to the rendezvous, but she wanted to stop somewhere that we could buy fruit for you."

"I'm grateful."

"You better be. My sister hates you, but she's keeping you alive anyway." He grabbed the bag and started down the bison's leg. Then, just as suddenly, he was back. "Oh yeah, my sister wants you to start stretching your legs and arms, and you have to be unchained to do it. Don't cause trouble."

"I won't."

He grabbed at Zuko's wrists, and used the chain to pull them closer. Toph's makeshift key did its job, and the cuffs popped open. "Look, I don't know about you, but none of the rest of us got any sleep last night, so keep it down."

Zuko leaned over the side to watch Sokka slide down the bison's tail and saunter over to his sister and his friends. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but suddenly arms were waving, and Sokka's mouth was moving very fast. Katara had his back to him, but he imagined her mouth was moving just as fast.

Finally, Sokka stalked back across the sand. "So, Katara says you have to start moving around eventually, and it's not going to suck any less tomorrow than it does right now, so..."

Zuko glared down at him. "Go away."

"Fine, but just so you know..." He shrugged bonelessly. "Katara does _not_ take her patients not doing what she tells them to well."

"I'm not her patient then," he said, hunching his shoulders. "Problem solved."

"Awww, it's cute that you think it's that easy," Sokka smirked. "Okay, but it's on your head. Anyway, don't leave Appa's saddle. You'll just fall over and then we'll have to haul you back in, and Katara will be even more angry with you."

o0O0o

"So we saved your life," Toph began, interrupting his plotting and his lonely meal of cold fish broth. "I think you should repay us."

"I'm not teaching the Avatar firebending because you fed me," he snapped. "I won't betray my father."

She shook her head. "You're ruining all my plans."

"Sorry." He wasn't.

"Besides, it's not like it'll matter after the eclipse." She shrugged. "We're going to kill the Firelord and then there won't be anybody left to betray."

"Why do you think that's going to convince me?" he yelled before he could stop himself. "I don't even... why?"

"Look, I'm just saying," Toph said. "You owe us."

_Yeah,_ he didn't say. _But you don't own me._

o0O0o

The sun was up, and Zuko wanted almost nothing in the world more than to go to sleep. But the Avatar and his companions were finally asleep, so he couldn't be. He grabbed the pot of fish broth and the jug of lychee juice, and held them each in a separate hand so that they didn't clank together as he slid down Appa's side. When the soft whoosh he made as he hit the sand didn't wake anyone, he started walking, past the camp, and down the beach toward the village.

His knees buckled. He breathed hard through his nose and stretched his arms out to keep his balance. Trembling, he opened the jug of lychee juice and brought it to his lips. He was a firebender. He drew energy from the sun. The sun was high in the sky, and all he needed to do was breathe. And walk, one foot in front of another.

o0O0o

Zuko clung to the arm of the fisherman as he hobbled into the tiny guard post, and when he let go, it was only to colapse against the wall with an exhausted smile. But the smile slipped off his face. "I know you probably won't believe me, but I'm Prince Zuko, and I was held prisoner."

"No, I believe you," one of the guards said, voice high with shock. She pulled a poster off the back wall and brought it close. It had Zuko's face printed on it in fine, careful wood block.

The other guard gasped. "Oh wow. Oh wow, this is..."

"Breathe, Hide," his partner told him. "Welcome, Your Highness, your father has been looking for you."

Zuko felt himself tense up again, felt his heart start to race, and he wondered why he was scared. His father was looking for him. That was a good thing wasn't it? It had to mean he cared. He wouldn't be looking if he didn't care.

"Hide, go get the physician. I'll stay here with him and send a messanger hawk to the capital. You're safe now, You're Highness."

"I know," he rasped. "Thank you." The room was spinning. "I need to tell my father, I know..."

o0O0o

The ship swayed with the water. Zuko squeezed the wooden ball the physcician had given him and ambled slowly around the deck in the evening sun. Iced pitchers of juice and steaming salted pig-chicken broth waited for him on a low table, and the wind blew west, toward home.


End file.
